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Emerging state, federal, and international laws impose new obligations on all types of businesses, including craft distillers, regarding personal information
PRIVACY PRIORITIES FOR CRAFT DISTILLERS
s the craft distilling industry grows, so too has its use of personal information. Craft distillers may not think of themselves as being in the data business, but they make wide use of personal information to promote and sell their products and understand market trends. The challenge is that regulations governing the collection and use of personal information are changing rapidly. Emerging state, federal, and international laws impose new obligations on all types of businesses, including craft distillers, regarding personal information and give consumers new rights regarding their data. Craft distillers must stay informed about those changes and adapt. Data privacy is not an issue that distillers have traditionally considered, but it is essential to understand going forward. With this in mind, we offer six priorities for distillers when evaluating their data management practices.
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and give consumers new rights regarding their data.
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Written by Ben Robbins and David Rice
UNDERSTAND YOUR DATA
Consider the diverse ways that your business uses personal information. You use it to process and fulfill customer orders in person and on your website and to engage in market research to understand consumer trends, develop products, and promote those products. You receive it from business contacts, suppliers, employees, and independent contractors. You share it with vendors who you rely on to support your business. All of these situations raise potential data privacy concerns and regulatory obligations. The first step in understanding your legal obligations is determining what personal information your business has and how it is used and shared. This is easier said than done and will involve many different departments of your organization — sales, marketing, human resources, management, and contracting.
One way to do this is to create a data map, which is a visual representation of the flows of data around your business’ systems. By identifying basic information about your data — including what kind of personal information you collect, who it is collected from, what consumers are told when it is collected, how it is used, how long it will be retained, and how it is shared — your business can better assess the legal risks associated with its data management practices. Pay particular attention to sensitive personal information, which typically includes consumer social security numbers, financial account information, precise geolocation, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, union membership, genetic data, sexual orientation, biometric information, and health data. Sensitive personal information typically receives more significant protection from applicable privacy laws and regulations and may involve additional requirements regarding its storage and processing. W W W . ARTISANSPIRITMAG . C O M